81 organisations sign the European Plastics Pact

15 governments and 66 companies and organisations have signed up to reduce plastic waste, use less plastic and recycle more, by launching the European Plastics Pact. The Pact is a public-private coalition that wants to achieve a truly circular European plastics economy by avoiding plastic waste and bringing all actors in the value chain together.

Participants of the European Plastics Pact commit themselves by 2025 to:

• Reusability and recyclability: Design all plastic packaging and single-use plastic products placed on the market to be reusable where possible and in any case recyclable by 2025
• Responsible use of plastics: Move towards a more responsible use of plastic packaging and single-use plastic products, aiming to reduce virgin plastic products and packaging by at least 20 percent (by weight) by 2025, with half of this reduction coming from an absolute reduction in plastics
• Collection, sorting and recycling: Increase the collection, sorting and recycling capacity by at least 25 percentage points by 2025 and reach a level that corresponds to market demand for recycled plastics
• Use of recycled plastics: Increase the use of recycled plastics in new products and packaging by 2025, with plastics using companies achieving an average of at least 30 percent recycled plastics (by weight) in their product and packaging range.

Participating in the pact is voluntary, but signing is not without obligation. Progress will be monitored and reported each year by all signatories and a Secretariat will keep track of the results. A full list of the signatories can be found here.

“It’s time to change the game. If we want to tackle climate change, we need to look beyond energy to materials. We have to start treating plastic as the valuable raw material it is and keep it out of our oceans. We strive to reuse all plastic in the future. From your daily chocolate bar wrapper to the shampoo bottle and everything in between. This is no easy task. We need the chemical industry to develop easily recyclable plastic. We need more recycling capacity and we need new product design. I am proud that today, with all these frontrunners, we are putting together our efforts to make this work,” said Stientje van Veldhoven, Dutch Minister for Environment and Housing.

Sander Defruyt, New Plastics Economy Lead, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, added: “The European Plastics Pact is a major step towards creating a circular economy for plastic, and the first supranational initiative to join the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global network of Plastics Pacts. We applaud the leadership shown by the Dutch, French, and Danish governments to develop this ambitious plan, joining forces with governments and businesses across Europe to eliminate the plastics we don’t need and innovate, so the plastics we need can be circulated in the economy and kept out of the environment.”